Ohio Valley Conference

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State women's basketball team fought back from an 11-point deficit at 39-28 with 8:59 remaining in the third quarter to defeat Morehead State 72-61 at home Thursday. 

The Tigers (9-20, 5-14 OVC) had two players score in double figures, led by Aaniya Webb, who had 26 points and three steals. Somah Kamara tacked on 14 points and five steals and Lyric Cole added eight points, 11 rebounds and two steals.

Cole pulled down six offensive rebounds to pace an offense that racked up second chance opportunities for Tennessee State, grabbing 17 boards and turning them into 20 second chance points.

Tennessee State's defense held Morehead State to only 39.3 percent shooting from the field, including 26.7 percent from beyond the arc. The Tigers also limited Kate Novik to 4-of-15 shooting in the game.

Tennessee State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 26-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Tennessee State then cut the Eagles lead to 32-16 before going on a 7-0 run to narrow its deficit to 32-23. The Tigers were unable to narrow the gap any further, but did not lose ground either and entered halftime with a 37-28 deficit.

After intermission, Tennessee State cut its deficit to 48-41 before going on a 6-0 run, punctuated by a basket from Xaionna Whitfield, to trim its deficit to 48-47 with 3:45 to go in the third. Morehead State countered and stretched its lead to 53-49 heading into the fourth. Tennessee State took advantage of eight Morehead State turnovers in the quarter, scoring 14 points off of takeaways.

Tennessee State kept the Eagles from increasing their lead before going on a 14-0 run, finished off by Webb's layup, to seize a 69-59 lead with 45 seconds to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 72-61 win. Tennessee State took advantage of its opportunities in the post, scoring 12 of its 23 points in the paint.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 71, SIUE 66
EDWARDSVILLE, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Basketball (6-22, 4-15 OVC) downed SIUE (5-23, 3-16 OVC) by a final score of 71-66 inside First Community Arena on Thursday evening. Guards Zoe Best and Lexi McCully each scored 24 points to lead the Redhawks in scoring as the duo combined for 48-of-70 SEMO points in their fourth OVC victory of the season. 

Center Ainaya Williams, who did not score a point in the first half, scored 10 second half points, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked five shots. 

As a team, SEMO shot 41.0-percent from the field (25-61) but the story of the day was the Redhawks at the free throw line. The Redhawks outshot SIUE by an 85.7 to 50.0-percent advantage.

Best and McCully combined finished 10-11 at the foul line as SEMO shot 13-15 as a team. 

The Redhawks started the game slow as the Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 run to force SEMO into a timeout at the 8:54 mark after a layup from SIUE's KK Rodriguez.
 
Skylar Barnes would halt the run by splitting a pair of free throws to make it 6-1 home team with just under nine minutes to play. Lexi McCully drained her first-of-three first half three-pointers to get SEMO to within a point. 
 
Zoe Best answered McCully with a three of her own to spark an 8-3 SEMO run as the Redhawks took their first lead on the Best three-pointer to lead 7-6. Trailing 9-7, McCully drove to the lane and used the window to tie it at nine a piece with 6:57 left in the opening frame. 
 
After a 4-0 run from SEMO with two layups by McCully and Barnes made it 13-12 SEMO before the Cougars used a 7-0 run to gain a six-point advantage with just a minute to go before the quarter break. Best would sink a pair of free throws to close the quarter as SIUE led 19-15. 
 
SEMO exploded in the second quarter, scoring 22 points in the second 10-minutes behind sharp shooting from McCully. McCully opened the quarter with a three to get the Redhawks to within a point, 19-18. 
 
McCully recorded a steal which led to a fastbreak opportunity for Sophie Bussard who finished with her left hand to cut the deficit back to just a point with 7:47 left until halftime. 
 
The two teams continued to trade baskets over the next three minutes of action, capped off by an elbow jumper from McCully which gave SEMO a three-point lead and forced SIUE into a timeout with 4:35 left in the half. The Redhawks led 29-26 at the timeout. 
 
Back-to-back three pointers from SIUE grew their advantage back to three points before McCully sparked a 7-2 SEMO run. Back-to-back three pointers from McCully and Best made it 37-34 Redhawks at the halftime break. 
 
McCully led all scorers with 19 points in the first half on 8-11 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from behind the arc. SEMO shot 42.2-percent from the field as a team as McCully and Best were responsible for 30-of-37 first half points for the Redhawks. 
The third quarter was all Redhawks as SEMO grew an 11-point lead after an Ainaya Williams layup made it 53-42 SEMO for their largest lead of the contest with 1:31 left in the third. 
 
McCully finished an old fashioned three-point play with a tough runner off the window through contact to make it 56-45 before a final SIUE free throw gave SEMO a 56-46 lead after the third quarter.
 
The Cougars would cut the SEMO lead to as little as three points after a layup from SIUE's Molly Sheehan made it 66-63 Redhawks with just over two minutes to play in regulation. 
 
But the Redhawks would ice it at the free throw line behind huge free throws from Best and Jariyah Williamson as the Redhawks held on for the 71-66 victory in Edwardsville.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 53, LITTLE ROCK 44
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A stifling defense and big rebounding performance by senior Macy McGlone helped carry Eastern Illinois to a 53-44 win over Little Rock on Thursday night as the Panthers locked up the No. 3 seed in the OVC Tournament with the win at Groniger Arena.
 
EIU held Little Rock to 24.2 percent shooting for the night as they built a 15-6 lead after the opening quarter.  EIU held the Trojans to just 11.8 percent in the second half but Little Rock trimmed the lead to 21-16 at the half as Sug Williams was able to drive to the line several times in the quarter.  She finished 8-of-10 at the stripe to lead Little Rock with 14 points while pulling down 11 rebounds for a double-double.
 
Little Rock cut the lead to one point before Kiyley Flowers, playing for the first time in three games, hit a pair of big 3-pointers in the third quarter for EIU as McGlone helped control the glass.  McGlone pulled down 21 rebounds falling one short of the school record.  She added 14 points, one of two Panthers in double figures.
 
Lalani Ellis scored 12 points to join McGlone in double figures while Alex Rouse scored nine points.  EIU closed out the fourth quarter with big free throw shooting hitting 8-of-10 in the quarter and 12-of-15 for the game.
 
EIU improved to 17-11 overall, 14-5 in the OVC as they will play as the No. 3 seed next week in Evansville with a 3 p.m. game.
 
Little Rock fell to 14-14 overall, 12-7 in the OVC.  Jordan Holman joined Williams in double figures with 13 points.

UT MARTIN 84, SOUTHERN INDIANA 69
MARTIN, Tenn. - Four players reached double-digits, as the University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team stormed past Southern Indiana, 84-69, Thursday night at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center in Martin.

The Screaming Eagles jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the game, but the Skyhawks used a 16-3 later in the first quarter run to take a lead it would never relinquish. UT Martin led by four at the end of the first and second quarters, before pushing the lead out to seven at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter, however, belonged solely to the Skyhawks. UT Martin outscored Southern Indiana, 24-16, in the frame, including a 9-0 run late in the game. The Skyhawks made nine of their last 10 field goals in the game, to seal the 15-point win and move to 13-17 overall and 10-9 in OVC play.

UT Martin crashed the boards Thursday, outrebounding the Screaming Eagles, 40-27, on the night for the largest rebounding margin of the season against a Division I opponent. Another key to the win for the Skyhawks came in the form of points off turnover. Despite committing two more turnovers, at 13-11, UT Martin was able to better capitalize off the USI miscues, outscoring their opponents, 20-9, in the category.

Late in the first quarter, Kenley McCarn hit two free throws to become the 19th member of UT Martin's 1,000-point club. She is now just the fourth sophomore in program history to join the elite club, alongside Heather Butler, Ashia Jones, and Jasmine Newsome.

Anaya Brown notched her third-consecutive double-double and the eighth 20-point-plus performance of the season Thursday when she scored 27 points and tallied 10 rebounds. Kenley McCarn followed Brown with 24 points, for her seventh 20-point-plus game of the season. Shae Littleford added 17 points and a game-high four assists, while Lexi Rubel had 12 points and seven rebounds to round out the four Skyhawks who scored double-digits.

TENNESSEE TECH 68, WESTERN ILLINOIS 51
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The championship has been won, but the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team is not done yet.

The Golden Eagles defeated Western Illinois 68-51 on Thursday night to claim a share of their 19th Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship in program history and first since 2012-13. Tech (23-5, 17-2 OVC) claimed its program-record 17th conference victory of the season and extended its winning streak to 14 games and 17 at home.

Tech can win the conference crown outright and claim the No. 1 seed in next week's OVC Basketball Championships in Evansville with a victory over Lindenwood on Saturday afternoon. A loss to the Lions will leave the two teams tied atop the league standings and Lindenwood will claim the No. 1 seed by tiebreaker.

It was slow going early on but the Golden Eagles were able to slowly build an advantage, outscoring Western Illinois 14-11 in the first quarter, 19-14 in the second, 17-13 in the third and 18-13 in the fourth.

The biggest factor that helped the Golden Eagles was slowing down the OVC's top scorer, Raegan McCowan, who ended the contest with just seven points on 3-for-11 shooting. She picked up two fouls early in the first quarter and saw her court time held to just over 23 minutes.

In her stead, Mia Nicastro showed why she has been one of the conference's top newcomers as she tried to carry the Leathernecks on her shoulders, scoring 23 points with eight rebounds, an assist, three steals and two blocks. Nicastro dominated in the paint, helping WIU collect 30 points under the basket.

In addition to McCowan's seven, Kennedy Flanagan and Shelby Bowman each had six points.

Tech had five players score in double figures, led by Keeley Carter, who collected 18 points on 5-for-11 shooting and 6-for-7 at the free-throw line. She also had six boards, a steal and a block. Reghan Grimes had 14 points – including a 6-for-8 effort at the line – with four rebounds, three assists and a block.

Taris Thornton also had 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, two assists and a block, Peyton Carter added 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers, five rebounds, a steal, a block and tying her career-high in assists with seven. Anna Walker also had 10 points.

Tech edged the battle on the glass with 37 rebounds, including nine on the offensive side. Chloe Larry led the Golden Eagles with seven boards, while Nicastro and Madison Davis led WIU with eight caroms each.

The Golden Eagles was able to outdo the Leathernecks at the line, going 16-for-19 at the stripe off of 14 fouls, while WIU was 9-for-14 as Nicastro was 4-for-7. Tech also knocked down more long-range shots, hitting 10 of its 28 3-point tries, while WIU was 2-for-11.

The 23 overall wins is tied for the most in the Kim Rosamond era with the 2022-23 OVC tournament champions. Only 10 more Tech women's teams have won more games in a single season with 28 standing as the program record.

With 17 OVC victories, the Golden Eagles have a chance to tie the 2017-18 Belmont women for the most OVC wins in a single season if they beat Lindenwood on Saturday. The win on Thursday tied the 2024-25 Tech team with the 2007-08 Southeast Missouri, 2022-23 Little Rock and 2023-24 Southern Indiana teams for second with 17 conference wins.